pbjs

Protocol Buffers for JavaScript

This is a minimal implementation of Google Protocol Buffers for JavaScript. Install it using npm:

npm install pbjs

Unlike other JavaScript implementations, this library doesn't write out default values. This makes it possible to tell if a field has been written at all or not, which allows for efficient encoding of maps. For example, it's possible to distinguish between a missing list and a list that is present but empty.

Command-Line Examples

• Generate JavaScript:

  pbjs wire-format.proto --js wire-format.js
  

  The generated code depends only on bytebuffer.js. See test.proto.js for an example of the generated code.

• Convert to JSON:

  pbjs wire-format.proto --decode MessageType < wire-format.bin > wire-format.json
  

• Convert to Binary:

  pbjs wire-format.proto --encode MessageType < wire-format.json > wire-format.bin
  

The generated JavaScript code

API Example

var pbjs = require('pbjs');
var fs = require('fs');

var schema = pbjs.parseSchema([
  'message Demo {',
  '  optional int32 x = 1;',
  '  optional float y = 2;',
  '}',
].join('\n')).compile();

var buffer = schema.encodeDemo({x: 1, y: 2});
console.log(buffer);

var message = schema.decodeDemo(buffer);
console.log(message);

Running the above code should output this:

<Buffer 08 01 15 00 00 00 40>
{ x: 1, y: 2 }